ABSTRACT
Starting from the pure Crown Colony system, the territories with which the authors are concerned went through the following stages: This pattern can be recognised in the evolution of all the British West African territories, although the creation of a federal structure of government differentiates Nigeria, in detail, from the others. The moneyless young nationalists who came into prominence after the Second World War were impatient and could not tolerate what seemed to them to be a dilatory and dilettantish approach to the seeking of independence. The impact of the Second World War upon nationalist movements in British West Africa was more or less the same in all territories, and is very well documented, particularly in the Gold Coast. As has been described earlier in this chapter, the impact of the Second World War on the British West African territories was socially, politically and economically far-reaching.
